Taken
by Cossacks250
Summary: Things that seem impossible and cannot happen may be more likely than we seem.
1. The interview

**Disclaimer: I do not own Disney. Most characters are Disney owned except for a few, mainly 'the beings'. **

Within a small room, perhaps no bigger than the average front room, a black curtain had been set up with a small light shining in from behind the camera that stood about ten feet in front of a single chair. Another two chairs were place alongside the camera and the curtains to the window of the room had been drawn so the light from the outside would not reflect off the camera lenses. Two reporters, one a woman with black hair, brown eyes and dressed in a red dress with a black belt around the middle and high heels, and the other a man who was taller than the woman with green eyes, blonde hair and dressed in a white top and jeans and trainers, sat on the chairs. The woman held a small pad in one hand and a pen in the other. The man was finishing the touches on the camera, setting the zoom and checking the tape length in it. Behind them a third man dressed in a suit stood by the door.

"Alright, send them in," the woman said to the man in the suit, who nodded and opened the door.

"Alright, rolling camera," the second reporter said, also setting up a voice recorder and placing on a small table to his right.

**Camera Recording: 6/6/2014 00:01. 00.02. 00:003. And so it goes on. **

For a moment, the chair in front of the camera remains empty as if it were to be left that way intentionally, as if to reflect its very purpose, its very life here on earth. Then, a woman moved into the camera's view and sat down on the chair. She was medium height and dressed in jeans, a baggy pink top and a pair of slip on shoes on her feet. Her hands clutched each other nervously, which fit the expression of anxiety and sadness on her face; which was small and heart shaped with red hair in two long braids draping down over her shoulders. Her teal eyes eyed the two people in front of her with a sense of guilt as if she were humiliated at being here. The freckles on her face also seemed to be nearly impossible to see as if they were shamed to be seen.

"Alright, Anna," the woman said in a gentle voice to her. "Thank you for joining us here today and for sparing your time for you to talk to us."

She just nodded and looked down at her hands as they fiddled with each other, hoping to try and take away some of the tension. The reporters paused for a moment to await a response but they kid of knew anyway that she would be hesitant in talking about…this…especially this.

"Just let us know if everything is alright, Anna," the woman told her.

Again, she just nodded and stared at the fiddling hands once more, the expression of lost and loneliness still evident in her eyes. The reporters could see it clearly, as had all of Anna's friends and family. What had happened to her had really shocked her and un-nerved her so much. It had been a struggle for her to get her to appear on camera here, but Anna herself felt like she had to do it. It had to be done.

"Can you begin from that day?" the woman asked, turning her pen over in her hands, ready to begin taking notes.

Anna shifted in her seat and exhaled heavily, pausing for a moment as if she were an athlete ready to begin running in a marathon. How could she bring herself to talk about this? That she asked herself constantly throughout the weee, constantly knocking on her nerves and making her shiver with fear. She, like anyone, would have wished that what had happened to her did not happen, but it did and now she was left to deal with it.

"I…" A pause. "I'll never forget that day," she said quietly, though it was loud enough for the two reporters to hear her. With a shake of her head to add emphasis, she continued. "Never. W-what happened was…was something that defies belief." Another pause as she took a deep breath. "And it doesn't go away like that-" she snapped her fingers to add emphasis to her point. "It stays with you like some…some mark and no matter what you do or want, it taunts you as if its saying 'I'm here. You're not gonna get rid of me!'"

**XXXXXXXX  
**

Woman reporter: "Did it change your life and the lives of your friends and family?"

Kristoff (nods with a solemn expression on his face): "Without a doubt, it did. It opened our eyes not to that sort of thing being possible but to…to things that seem impossible yet at the same time it was very possible,"

**XXXXXXXXX**

Merida: "What we saw…" pauses for a moment to heave a heavy sigh and continues. "I don't think I'll ever forget it. As much as I want to, I can't. I still have nightmares y'know…about _this event_,"**  
**

**XXXXXXXXX**

Cinderella: "Umm… When they came back to us without her, we assumed that they had done something to her. Elsa was really mad at them and so were we, but…but we had to push that aside and did everything we could to find her,"

**XXXXXXXXX**

Rapunzel: "The guilt was…" she paused to wipe a tear from her eye, the sadness and guilt overwhelming her like a tidal wave. "It was overpowering. None of us could believe we fled and…and I still feel so horrible for doing that. When scared, you don't think about anything but running for your life!"

**XXXXXXXXX**

Philip: "Everyone thought we had hurt her or abandoned her, or even killed her. We felt like we were going to be arrested for murder. Elsa was … furious at us and we all probably would be split up by what happened."


	2. The hike

**Two weeks earlier**

Going hiking across the mountainous woodlands was a very tiring thing, especially when there was a large group of them and you had to stay in touch with them so as not to end up having people get lost in the wilderness. The terrain itself was no help either. With rocky paths, fallen trees, prickly branches from the trees that were still standing, close together I might add, and sudden drops in the ground, it was easy for someone to fall or at least have difficult footing whilst walking.

"Careful there, Merida!"

"Yes, mother, I heard you!"

Stumbling and crashing through the undergrowth, Merida emerged through a dead bush, her mother right behind her. Merida was dressed in a pair of shorts and a cream top with her hair tied back in a ponytail. Her mother followed behind her, dressed in the same way but keeping her hair in her usual two waist length braids, followed close behind, having to push the bush aside. Despite her warning to her daughter, she also had to tread carefully to avoid stumbling on the ground. It was a good thing Fergus was not here He would have had trouble walking on this uneven ground.

"Hey guys, wait up!"

Stopping on a stable bit of ground and looking behind them, the two watched as the rest of the group followed close behind them. Philip emerged from the brush, followed by Aurora, Rapunzel, Eugene and Jasmine and Aladdin, all of them dressed in differing hiking gear. Some had backpacks, others did not.

Exhaling, Aurora wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead. "Wow, that's a tough trail!" she commented.

"Damn right it is!" Eugene replied, pausing for a moment to catch his breath, bending forward and placing his hands on his knees to hold himself up. "Exhausted already!"

"Awww, now c'mon Eugene!" Rapunzel teased, placing her arm across his back and leaning on it, smirking playfully at him. "You're getting too old for this!"

Chuckling in reply, he straightened back up. "Oh, too old am I?" he asked before whisking her off her feet and carrying her princess style, which caused her to yelp in surprise and the others to laugh at the scene in front of them. "Not too old for this now am I?!" he said jokingly.

Rapunzel rolled her eyes and playfully hit him. "Oh, Eugene," she said as he set her back on the ground, placing his arm around her.

"Wonder where the others are?" Aladdin asked, looking behind him. "Oh here they come,"

Stumbling and wobbling along the path came Cinderella with Charming, Megara, Anna, Elsa, Kristoff, Tiana, Naveen and bringing up the rear was Olaf, who was covered with sticks and pebbles and dust. Thankfully his microclimate was keeping him up but even so he was leaving a trail of water behind him as he went. The heat out here was unbearable. All of them, aside from Olaf obviously, were dressed in hiking clothes.

"Slow down for a second, guys!" Anna breathed as she held the bush aside to allow her sister, Naveen and Olaf through before letting it go, the swish of the branches filling the air. "Need to catch my breath!"

"Yeah, take five, everyone!" Elsa said as she sat down on the ground, wiping her head clear of sweat.

Even she despite her powers was boiling and sweating from the heat. "I'm so glad I don't burn!" she added.

"Me too," Jasmine added sitting down next to her and reaching into her short pocket and took out a bottle of water and took a drink before passing it to Aladdin, who did the same and passed it to Kristoff.

"You're lucky!" Megara piped up, rubbing the back of her neck that was partially covered by her hair, though it had not done enough to prevent the sun from turning it red. "Stings like hell!" she added, wincing slightly.

"You want some ice to put on it?" Elsa offered.

"Please, thanks!" Megara accepted and took a small ice sheet Elsa conjured up for her and place it on the back of her neck, exhaling softly as the coolness ran through her body.

As the others sat down and began to chatter amongst themselves, Anna walked over to Merida and sat down beside her, glad to be taking a break from the constant walking.

"Whoa! Talk about your feet aching!" She commented as she took off her shoes and began to rub her feet.

Merida chuckled as she swallowed a mouthful of water from her bottle. "Can't be as bad as when you danced with the Duke!" she replied, chuckling with Anna at the memory of her dancing with the little man in 'high heels' as Anna had once told her.

"Now girls!" Elinor said to them sternly, raising an eyebrow and tapping her foot on the ground as she eyed them with an expression that said they should know better. "That's not a nice thing to say!"

"Yes, yes, mother! I'm sorry!" Merida moaned, rolling her eyes and taking another sip from her water.

"Hey Elinor?" Cinderella called from the rock nearby, which she was sitting on with Aurora, both of whom were brushing the dust and bits of branch off their clothes from the walk. "How much further is it to the road where the buses are?" she asked.

"Not far now, dear," she replied. "About another hour." she added.

"Just in time to watch the sun go down," Naveen commented and smiled at Tiana, who smiled back. "Beautiful, no?" he added playfully to which she swatted his arm.

"Now c'mon, you two," Elinor told them. "You can have a snog later."

The others laughed and Naveen and Tiana, though smiling, blushed and looked away from each other, mentally wishing they could disappear back to the restaurant. Then again, they agreed to come out here because they needed a day away from the work to relax and take in some natural scenery so the embarrassment was worth it.

Anna, after relaxing a little to rest her feet, got back and walked over to Kristoff, who was sunning himself a little whilst leaning against a tree. He smiled when he saw Anna walk up to him.

"You alright now?" he asked her and she nodded.

"Great, thanks" she replied, leaning against him and he put his arm around her. "Wonder how Sven is doing?" she asked.

"Yeah, hopefully we get back soon so I can feed him," Kristoff told her, a hint of worry in his voice.

"Don't worry, he'll be fine." Anna reassured him. "Though, do you still have his carrots?" she asked.

A guilty expression spread across his face as he pulled out a few carrot heads from his pocket. "I did, but I was a little hungry so…I ate them,"

Anna giggled and rolled her eyes. "Don't worry, we'll get some more on the way home," which Kristoff smiled at.

After a few more minutes, Elinor and Elsa decided it was time to move on and so the group, now ready to move on again after their rest, picked themselves up and began to trudge onwards down the path and back into the woods where the greenery was becoming a little more dense. Still, it was nice to hear the sounds of birds singing and leaves rustling as the light breeze blew through the air. A very serene and benign scene was present all around them. This was what made their walk worth it.

As they walked on, Megara, having now been shielded by the trees and the back of her neck being numb by the coolness of the ice sheet Elsa gave her, took it off her skin and shook it dry before throwing it behind her. However, as she was near the front of the group, she threw the ice sheet behind her but failed to notice it missed Jasmine and Philip's heads and headed for the person behind them.

SPLAT! "AARGGHHH!"

The group stopped and all heads turned to see Merida toss the ice sheet off her face onto the ground; her face dripping with water and perspiration. For a moment, she stood there wiping her face dry with her hands. Then, looking up at Megara, who she had seen earlier with the ice sheet, glared angrily at her.

"What is your problem, Megara!" she snapped at her. "You wanna with where ya throw your stuff!"

"Sorry!" Megara retorted, though her voice sounded as if she did not mean it. "It was an accident!"

"You still coulda looked, y'know!" Merida snapped back vehemently, her cheeks reddening with anger. "You're not princess of the forest!"

"Oh and I suppose you are, _Mrs perfect_!" Megara remarked in a snarky way, adding a childish tone on the last two words.

Merida glared even more at her and went to walk towards her, raring to give her a piece of her mind, but Charming held her back.

"Okay, okay, that's enough!" he said loudly, holding the girl back and preventing an argument or even a fight from breaking out. "C'mon girls, don't ruin this for us all!"

"She started it!" Merida snapped at him, pointing an accusing finger at Megara. "She should apologise to me!"

"Both of you pack it in!" Elinor's powerful voice commanded, walking up to her daughter and nodding at Charming to release her. Merida stayed where she was but her glare switched from her mother to Charming and, especially, to Megara. "Now _both of you_-" she looked at Megara and then back at her daughter. "-stop this nonsense. It was a mistake and both of you need to calm down and start growing up a little and not resorting to this behaviour! Is that understood?!"

Merida exhaled deeply, as did Megara, who also looked away to hide her disgust. It was Merida's fault, she was overreacting! It was only an accident! She should have no need to apologise but that little squirt should!

"Is that understood?!" Elinor repeated, her voice, though lighter, now full of demand. "Merida! Megara!"

Charming nudged Merida to comply, as did Elsa, who was standing next to Megara. Both women eyed each other intensely in a mini-standoff for a moment before Merida nodded.

"Yes, mother," she acquiesced with annoyance, to which Elinor looked over at Megara and she too nodded, muttering a low "Sure!" before turning away completely from the two.

"Good," Elinor said, relieved to have sorted out this dispute. "Now, let's all move on _without_ starting an argument!" she told the others, adding a strong tone on the word 'without'.

The rest of the group obeyed and walked on, though as Merida walked past her mother she muttered something under her breath, no doubt an invective. Elinor sighed and rolled her eyes.

_It's going to be a long trek back to the buses _she told herself. _Let's hope the others have had more peace than us._


	3. The argument

**Later that day**

After another two hours of walking, the group had finally begun to reach the familiar trail that led down to the clearing where the buses were parked. A light glow broke through the trees up above and shone down to the ground below as if lighting up the path for the group and the leaves rustled as a light breeze blew through the air. A few birds chirped and called out to one another as they flew from tree to tree; signalling the end of the day was drawing near. Soon the night would overtake the world and the moon and stars would conquer the sky for their own period of time before the sun would rise and open the world up to a new day once more.

As the group pushed through the bushes and branches that lay strewn across their path, the air was filled with a sense of exhaustion and weariness. All of them were tired; then again who would not be after travelling for about seven hours or so throughout the day in a mountainous terrain! Sweat poured off them as if they were done running a marathon, but at least the ground was flatter and easier to walk on. Nobody was stumbling or tripping anymore and there was at least some shade offered by the branches overhead. At the moment, everyone was chatting amongst themselves about the day's events and what they were going to do when they got home.

"I'll be resting, that's for sure!" Anna said to Elsa, who was walking alongside Olaf. "My feet still hurt from earlier!"

Elsa giggled. "I told you not to wear flat soled shoes, Anna," she replied matter-of-factly. "I said they would hurt your feet."

Anna rolled her eyes. "Okay, _mother,_ thanks for the reminder!" she said, drawing a roll of the eyes from Elsa.

Behind them, Aurora and Philip were discussing dinner with their parents later on. Aurora was suggesting they use up the last of the meat they had whilst Philip said they had fish to get rid of before it went past its date. The others were wrapped up in their own conversations. Merida and Elinor were talking about the three little brothers and Fergus; Cinderella, Charming and Rapunzel were talking about a lizard they had seen earlier that day whilst Kristoff and Eugene had spent the last twenty minutes talking about the upcoming World Cup. Tiana was worrying about her restaurant and hoping to get back to it in time and Naveen was reassuring her they would. Jasmine and Aladdin were trailing behind with the latter wrapping the former in an embrace with his arm around her and she had her head on his shoulder, both of them just enjoying the moment on the walk. Megara walked on behind them silently, still a little peeved at what had happened earlier so everyone had decided to let her cool down. 

As they walked on, Elinor began to mention the rest of the group whilst checking her phone. When they buses had dropped them off earlier, them and the others had split off into two groups. They had all been in one group and Mulan, Shang, Snow White, Ferdinand, Pocahontas, John Smith, Ariel, Eric, Belle, Adam, Taran and Elionwy were in the other group. Having too big a group would have been a bit too much for them all to keep close together and not risk losing one another so there were split into two for better safety. Now they were going to meet up and, no doubt, chat about the day's hiking and walking all the way back to the town.

"Let's hope they are all okay," Elinor said to herself. "We don't need to worry about any injuries or someone going missing!"

"Mum, no one's going missing!" Merida reassured her. "We'll be fine and so will they, alright!"

Her mother nodded. Yes, they would all be fine. Nothing would happen to them. She was sure that Elsa ahead of them was worrying about the same thing. With a look she saw that she was right but Anna, like Merida had done for her, was reassuring her sister they would all be okay. 

"So what do you think'll happen when Italy play England later on tonight?" Kristoff asked Eugene, who shrugged.

"Italy'll win, I guarantee it!" he replied. "I wonder how far they'll get this time. Maybe further than before hopefully." He shrugged. "Who knows,"

"Everyone, we're almost there!" Elsa called out from the front of the group as they neared a clearing up ahead. "Make sure you got everything and keep up!" she warned.

Everyone quickened their pace upon hearing these words, knowing that rest and relaxation were only a few minutes of walking away from them. Elsa and Anna were very eager to get home and relax. They had been awake earliest and were tired to death. Still, they could keep themselves awake for a little longer to make sure that everything would work out okay.

After a few more moments, they reached the clearing. Just as they did, a few voices echoed from nearby and, moments later, the bushes and branches were pulled aside and the rest of the for mentioned group appeared nearby. Greeting the others with happy faces and kind words; both mingled into one and began to chat amongst themselves about what had happened on their trek through the mountainous areas.

As the two groups intermingled and began to prepare for the journey home, Merida was checking her backpack to see if she had any snacks to eat on the way home. Unbeknownst to her mother, she had sneaked in a few extra … shall we say 'treats' with the help of her three little brothers of course. Maybe she could eat them on the way back. She would have to have a light dinner though otherwise her mother would get suspicious and realise and the last thing she wanted from today was another lecture.

"Getting somethin' to stuff your face with now, are we?" a familiar voice said from behind her, startling the young Scottish girl as she looked over her shoulder to see Megara standing there with a look of disgust on her face. "God, you need to lighten up!" she added, looking away with an expression of distaste.

Merida glared at her. "Megara, do us a favour and jog on!" she replied sternly.

The woman shot a nasty look back at her, her eyes narrowing to almost slits. "You have some nerve on that tongue of yours, missy!" she hissed.

"And you don't!" Merida snapped back, drawing worried looks from Olaf and Shang standing nearby. "I think you need to realise that you have been the one who started this! It's your fault!"

"Why you little…!" Megara snarled, stepping closer to Merida until her face was right up close to hers, staring her down icily in an attempt to make her concede but Merida was not giving in.

Very quickly, the exchange of words between the two began to grow louder and before one knew it, they were resorting to shouting at each other; Merida's thick Scottish accent coming clearly to the surface. All other conversations stopped and turned towards them. For a moment, no one knew what to do as if they had never witnessed anything like this before.

Then, Anna, hurt that two of her friends were arguing, rushed over to them and launch in an array of begging to try and calm them down. At first, she did not get through to them but when she did…

"SHUT UP, ANNA!" both had yelled at her in unison, startling her and making her jump a few feet backwards in fear as they resumed arguing.

Finally, Elsa and Elinor rushed over to bring the argument to a halt and stood between the two.

"Alright, that's enough! The pair of you!" Elinor's deep voice rumbled out across the clearing, glaring both at Megara, who Elsa had by the arm and was holding her firm with a stern gaze of her own, and Merida. "You two don't need to ruin this for everyone else, alright!" she added.

Both girls sighed and glared at each other again, wishing that Elinor and Elsa were not there to interfere. Both wanted to strike the other, or at least give them a real piece of their minds. Well any chance of that was ruined now!

"Now, you two will not argue again or I will punish the pair of you, is that clear!" Elinor growled at both of them, glancing once again from Merida to Megara and back again. No response. "I said is that clear!" she asked again, her voice now more demanding.

With a heavy sigh, Merida nodded. Megara just shook her head and, wrenching her arm out of Elsa's grip, walked away, muttering under breath. Merida glared after her, but her mother stopped her.

"Now, Merida, you need to let things go alright?!" she said to her daughter. "Don't let her get to you and just ignore her. It's not worth it!"

"Mum, she started it!" Merida snapped back, pointing a finger at Megara, who glared back over her shoulder. "Why are you having a go at me?!"

"Merida, stop!" Elinor said to her vehemently. "Now will you please try and get along with Megara. Just let what happened today go! Now you will sit next to Megara on the bus. No! Don't argue with me, you will be surprised at how it will work!"

With a groan, Merida slammed a hand over her face, obviously displeased over what her mother had said to her. It was not fair! It was not fair at all; she had to feel like the guilty one! Why was it suddenly her fault? Megara had started on her!

As Elinor turned to go and have a word with Megara standing nearby, Elsa and Kristoff walked over to Anna; the former putting a hand on her shoulder and looking sympathetically at her.

"Are you alright, Anna?" she asked her with a concerned tone. Her sister nodded but the sad expression on her face told Elsa and Kristoff, who pulled her into an embrace, otherwise. "C'mon, let's go," she said to her, nodding her and Kristoff in the direction of the buses.

Well, these last few seconds had been eventful, but even as Merida watched Megara be lectured by her mother and Anna be led away by Kristoff and Elsa and the others try and get back to a normal conversation and forget the argument that had happened, there was one thing that was clear. And neither she nor the others knew it.

What was about to happen was to change all of their lives forever. 


	4. The glow

**Later that day**

Dusk is, alongside dawn, the most perfect time of the day for one can witness the brilliant array of colours that would reveal themselves in the sky as the sun descended to the west. From the farthest point of the east, the night sky was drawing in. Soon it would overcome the world and fill the sky with thousands upon thousands of stars that would glimmer in the ever stretching blackness as if they were rays of hope that the sun would return. The world only had to hold on for a night until the morning and then the sun would return and bring with it the happiness and glory it had done for many millions of years.

For some, this time of day was the cause for a walk or some time in the garden or just going out to take in some nature. And going through one of the many roads that cut through the woods, a bus drove, its wheels scraping over the tarmac as it went. Leaves and branches rustled as the wind caused from the movement of the vehicle barrelled into them as it went by. Inside, Jasmine, Rapunzel, Eugene, Philip, Aladdin, Aurora, Megara, Merida and Anna were sitting, scattered up and down the bus with Philip behind the wheel. Each was talking to one another either in a group or in as a couple. Aurora was sitting behind Philip with her arms draped around his shoulders and her head resting on his shoulder; Eugene, Rapunzel and Anna were sitting in the middle of the bus talking and Aladdin and Jasmine were asleep about two thirds of the way down the bus; the latter being held in the former's arms. Merida and Megara were sitting next to each other just in front of the sleeping couple, having been told to on Elinor's orders, much to their disgust and annoyance. Both had barely spoken to each other and were content with putting as much space between them and were doing anything to ignore the other. For the last twenty minutes, Merida was asleep, leaning against the window whilst Megara was reading a book but was grimacing at Merida's snoring.

_Sounds like a warthog! _She mentally said to herself as she read on.

Outside the night sky had become more apparent and the sun had completed its descent behind the hills to the west. A few stars were just about to make their appearance at the eastern most part of the sky. Night was coming and soon blackness would be all around them so they wanted to get home quickly lest they became lost. Luckily, Philip knew where they were and so took it in his stride not to rush. Rushing was the worst thing someone could do when they wanted to get something done.

"Alright everyone," he announced, his voice carrying down the bus. "We're not far now. Another half an hour or so."

The others thanked him and quickly went back to their conversations whilst Aurora kissed him on the side of the head, which he returned by kissing her hand. Aladdin and Jasmine stirred from their sleep but smiled when they saw each other's faces in front of them and Aladdin pulled her closer to him. Merida, however, continued to snore on, much to Megara's disgust.

BUMP! A small pot hole in the road knocked Merida away from the window and against Megara's shoulder but still she continued to sleep. Megara froze for a moment as if she had seen something horrible on her arm; her eyes looking down at her widely. Then, after processing what had just happened, she closed her book and hit Merida on the side of the head with it. With a startled cry, Merida awoke and frantically looked around her surroundings as if to try and detect an invisible threat but then realised what had happened and glared at Megara who rolled her eyes and tutted loudly.

"You snore like a warthog!" she snapped at the young princess, who groaned and turned away.

"You could've asked me to be quiet rather than hit me, you galoot!" Merida replied sordidly. "I don't know why my mother had to make me sit next to you on this damn bus!"

"Don't think you're the only one suffering!" Megara commented snidely. "I'm not enjoying this either!"

"Hey guys, c'mon!" Aladdin said, he and Jasmine having overheard the two arguing. "Don't argue! We've had a good day!"

"Excuse me, she started it!" Merida pointed an accusing finger at Megara.

"Like hell I did it was you, you warthog!" Megara snapped back loudly, drawing a few concerned looks from the others.

Merida glared deeply at Megara, who replied in turn, and was about to argue back but Ana came walking down the bus.

"Guys, come on, please!" she told them pleadingly. "We don't want any more trouble. Let's just enjoy the ride back and then you won't have to sit near each other again!"

Megara and Merida just rolled their eyes, though their faces held clear looks of annoyance. Aladdin tried to talk to them in reconciling with each other but they ignored him and turned away from Anna, though tried not to look at each other.

BUMP! The bus rocked again as it nearly went onto the side of the road, making those on board jump a little.

"You okay, Phil?" Eugene asked him.

"Yeah, sorry," he replied, glancing over his shoulder at the others. "It's getting pretty dark and the headlights aren't as bright as I thought."

It was true. Outside, a blanket of darkness seemed to have enveloped most of the surrounding landscape. The night sky had drawn in quite quickly overhead and the stars were becoming more apparent. The last colours of dusk were fading away behind the mountain as if fleeing the darkness and letting it consume the world.

Jasmine grunted as she sat up in her seat and gazed out of the window, wishing that she could see some of the wilderness that they were racing past. Even though it would look dark and a little unnerving, it was just something she wanted to do right now. Anything to pass the time, and block out the two arguing women behind her. She shifted a little in her seat a little and sat up a little more, her brown eyes locking onto the world outside that was engulfed in blackness.

Suddenly, a burst of light shining momentarily out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. It lasted for a brief millisecond before it disappeared behind the undergrowth. A look of puzzlement etched across her face. What was that?

"You okay, Jas?" Aladdin asked her, having seen the puzzlement on her face.

"I just saw a light," she said. "Through the trees," she added, pointing through the window at the spot where she had seen the light emanate through the wilderness.

Anna, Merida and Megara, having overheard the two, looked out the window; Merida pressing her face up against it so her nose flattened against the glass. They scanned every inch of the blackness outside the bus but saw nothing at all.

"Maybe it was the moon?" Anna suggested, looking up at the sky that was just visible behind the outline of the trees.

"The moon?" Rapunzel asked, having heard her friend say it. Anna looked over at her and Rapunzel shook her head and pointed out the window. "Can't be, the moon's over here," she said, pointing out the window.

Looking at the others, Anna rushed over to the other side of the bus in the seats behind Eugene and Rapunzel and gazed out the window. To her surprise they were correct; the moon was far off to the left just behind the trees behind them. Now confusion hit Anna like a punch in the face. If the moon was here, then what was that light?

"Look, there it is again!" Merida suddenly exclaimed. "Bloody Hell, it's bright!"

The others, aside from Philip, rushed over to the other side of the bus and looked out. To their surprise the light came bursting through gaps in the trees once again, momentarily blinding those who witnessed it before it would disappear behind a tree and then reappear again. The entire group stared at it in wonder as if it were some heaven sent light. What was its source? More importantly, why was it out here in the woods?

"Is that a fire or something?" Merida asked.

"It can't be," Eugene quickly replied with a shake of his head. "Look, it's…it's blue!" he added with a tone of utter disbelief.

He was right. As they drove on, the light came back; its blue glow piercing through the trees like sunlight at the break of dawn. As soon as they saw this, puzzlement and bewilderment quickly swept all of them into its gripping waves. What was this light? What was it doing out here? Why was it out here?

"Do you think it could be fairy magic or…something?" Rapunzel suggested but Aurora shook her head.

"It's not the fairy godmothers or the fairies," she replied. "Besides, it's too late for them to do something now."

Now they were all gripped by the churning current of confusion and concern, threatened to be overwhelmed and consumed by its raging mass. They did not know what it was, but something…something just did not feel right. This light, as they drove on past some trees that blocked out the light for a few seconds before it reappeared a few moments later, was not anything they were familiar with. It was not the moon because of its location and its colour ruled it out being a fire and the time of day ruled out the possibility of it being magic. Something was very unusual here, _very, very_ unusual indeed.

"Phil," Anna's voice suddenly spoke up. "Put your foot down, let's go see!"

"What!" everyone else exclaimed, all eyes now turning to Anna, who continued to look out the window with a transfixed fascination of the object in her eyes.

"Anna, are you crazy?!" Eugene asked her.

"Yeah, I mean, we don't know what it is," Jasmine pointed out to her. "It could be … it could be … oh, I don't know, something dangerous!"

"We'll know that when we get there!" she replied, glancing at them before looking back at Philip. "C'mon, Phil, we have to get going! We have to see what's up there!" Anna chided him, urgency and eagerness in her voice.

For a moment, Philip looked at them and then at the light, keeping an eye on the road so as not to send them careering into a tree though. Was it a good idea? Should they go and investigate this thing? It was no doubt curious of them, nothing new to people of course, but still it could lead to danger. After all, they did not know what it was and if it turned out to be something dangerous they were goners in a bus.

After a few moments, he put his foot down and, turning the steering wheel right, drove down a dirt path heading straight for the light. At once, Anna became a little livelier. She would glance from the light to the road through the windscreen with a look of urgency like a parent wanting to get home to her child as quickly as she could for fear something bad would happen to the offspring. Her eyes were almost screaming at Philip, who glanced at her with a concerned expression every so often as they drove on towards the brightening light, to hurry before they lost sight of the light. The others watched her with apprehension. Anna was an easily excited person; there was no doubt about that. But her intense curiosity was often something that could get her or others into trouble. What they were doing now was likely to end the same way but for some strange reason they too were overcome by curiousness to see where this led to. Even though the possibility that this light was dangerous was lingering in their minds, they too wanted to see what it was and why it was out here. There had to be a reason after all.

"We're getting closer!" Philip said after a few moments. "It's just on the other side of those trees," he pointed ahead to a large cluster of trees not too far ahead of them, just about illuminated by the glow of the headlights.

"Are you guys sure we should be doing this?" Aladdin asked.

"Yeah," Rapunzel added, equally concerned, as the bus approached a small bend in the road. "I think we should just go on before we get caught up in something bad."

"Philip, slow down a little!" Anna suddenly rushed to the door and began pulling on the lock.

"Anna! What are you doing!" Rapunzel exclaimed in alarm as Philip rounded the bend and approached a large clearing off to the right where the light was coming from, shielded by a few more trees.

"I'm…getting…the…door open!" the red haired woman replied, pulling the lock open and pushing the door open, the cool night air slamming into her like a sledgehammer.

The others immediately yelled and called for her not to rush outside even as Philip slammed on the brakes, trying to bring the bus to a halt as if passed the last of the trees near the clearing's side. Anna, however, either did not hear them or ignored them as she, breathing in like she was about to run a marathon, dove out of the bus and onto the ground, rolling for a few feet before getting up groaning. The voices of her friends still rang in her ears.

Anna lifted her head up to turn and tell them to shut up when she noticed that her entire body was basking in the blue glow, as was the bus, whose headlights were completely dwarfed by the light, and the surrounding wilderness. Looking up, her breath was caught in her throat and her eyes grew as wide as dinner plates. The others, too, immediately silenced themselves in disbelief and shock when they laid their eyes on what was before them.

None of them could comprehend what it was they were seeing before them.


	5. The object

When you see something that you cannot explain, you often try and tell yourself it is not real and try and make it go away or convince yourself that it was what you wanted it to be. You may shut your eyes or shake your head and or mutter to yourself that it was not real. However, sometimes no matter what you did, you just had to face the reality that whatever it was you were seeing _was _real and right before you no matter how much you did not want it to be.

And right now, that was exactly what the group were going through as they stared up at what they thought had been a blue light they had seen on their way back to the others; only it was much more than that.

Hovering just twenty five feet from the bus and just a little under that from Anna was a large disc shaped object that looked like two pot pan lids stuck on top of each other, just without any handles on the top or bottom. Around the underside of the object was a pattern of crimson blue lights that radiated off it, explaining the glow they had seen on their way up here. On the bottom of it was a circular dark shape which the group quickly assumed was its bottom. The entire thing seemed to shine in the moonlight, at least from what Anna could see from where she was laying. Noiselessly too, it spun in mid-air above the ground, about the same distance above the soil as it was from the object to the bus.

All of them just stared at this object, their eyes completely fixed on it as if it had grasped their minds and was making them look at it, unable to have them look away. A sort of seductive creation poised to have all of them follow its lead into the unknown. If dear readers, you could be within this realm to witness their faces, or at least imagine them you would see that the only thing planted on each of their faces was an expression of utter disbelief and shock. _What was this thing?! _How was it here? Why was it here? All of these questions ran through their minds but none of them could answer them.

For a moment, no one moved and not a sound emanated from anywhere, save the occasional rustle of the leaves on the trees nearby as the wind blew through them. The again, what could they do? Run off and celebrate they had found something extraordinary? Panic and leg it? All stare at it in bewilderment until the others came looking for them? They just did not know what to do, probably because staring at this thing was not helping and that it was just so surprising for them to see it that they did not recognize anything else around them or what in their immediate environment.

Suddenly, Rapunzel's voice rang out, snapping the others out of their trance: "Anna! What are you doing?!"

Whilst everyone's attention had been focused on the object, Anna had gotten up and, as if the object were calling her like the voice of God or some divine being, was taking slow, tentative steps towards it. Her teal eyes remained fixed on it like it had her in a trance and was beckoning her to come to it. Almost immediately, the others began calling out to her.

"Anna, what the Hell are you doing?" Philip exclaimed in surprise, launching himself out of his seat and rushing over to the bus entrance.

"Get back here! You don't know what that thing could do to you!" Merida shouted at her, panic in her voice.

Still, despite the shouting, Anna kept on walking towards the object, allowing herself to be basked more and more into its crimson glow as she neared it. She had to crane her head a little the closer she got to it and soon she was staring up at it at a forty degree angle; almost directly underneath the edge of it! Of course, the others by this point began to really panic.

"ANNA!" Rapunzel screamed in terror, rushing to the bus entrance as fast as she could go. "Stop! What are you doing!"

"Rapunzel, no!" Eugene exclaimed, rushing after her and, just as she was about to leap off the bus and rush out and grab Anna, he grabbed her arms and held her back, Philip doing the same. "You can't go out there! You don't know how dangerous it is!"

"I don't care, we have to get her!" Rapunzel cried, struggling fiercely against the grip of Eugene and Philip. They just had to get Anna back to the safety of the bus! _They had to! They had to! _"We can't leave her out there!"

"She's right, we gotta go grab her!" Megara stated, glancing back out at the object and gasped, along with Jasmine whilst Aladdin muttered something under his breath, as they saw Anna come to a halt near the object, only she was now close enough to almost reach out and touch it. "Oh God! We need to hurry!"

"Anna!" Eugene shouted as loud as he could at her. "Get back here!" he added, praying she would listen to him.

Anna, who had been transfixed by the glowing object, glanced over her shoulder back at the bus and her friends, meeting their terrified gazes with her rather emotionless, unconcerned one. It was almost as if she was saying to them mentally: _Why are you worrying? Nothing's happened to me! _For a moment, they hoped she would reply or at least make their way back to them but she did neither. The glance she gave them lasted only a moment or so before she resumed looking back up at the object, which panicked them even more.

After struggling for a few moments, Eugene pulled Rapunzel back into the bus and gave her to Aurora and Philip.

"Alright, wait here, I'm gonna go grab her!" he told them, but received instant protest from the others.

"You can't, Eugene!" Aladdin said. "You don't know what that thing could do to you!"

"Yeah, it might try an' put ya in a trance or somethin'!" Merida warned him, nodding at Anna as an example of her point.

"It's worth a try!" he protested to them, turning to rush out and make a grab for Anna.

_**HUUUUMMMMMMM!**_

The noise radiated out like a horn being blown, silencing them promptly, stopping Eugene in his tracks also, and making them resume their gazes towards the object. Nothing had changed about it; just that it was had suddenly began making these loud humming noises. Another hum emanated from it, rolling out across the landscape as if it were the call of judgement, the sign of the coming of the hour of the apocalypse, or a signal that would probably attract more to its position. Almost immediately afterwards, the crimson lights began to glow brighter, lighting up the woodlands around them as if it were a new sun on a new day.

Aladdin swore. "What's it doing?!" he asked, panic in his voice.

"I don't know, but we need to grab Anna and go, like now!" Megara replied, fear also in her voice.

Said Anna, though the others could not see well, seemed to have snapped out of her trance, having been caused by the loud hums that emanated from the object; though to her they were like bells being rang right next to her considering how close she was. For a moment, she stood in a daze as if she had just woken up from a dream and was trying to process what had just happened. Then, upon realising how close she was to the object, she gasped and took a step back, her eyes growing wide once again with disbelief.

"Anna!" Eugene called out, finally getting her to turn her head and look at him. "Get back here now!" he shouted desperately.

Having finally snapped out of her trance, she, to the relief of the others, began to back away from the object, half-turning her body as she intended to run as fast as she could from it.

_**HUUUUUUMMMMMM! VVVVRRRRROOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!**_

Once again, the object caused all of them to fall silent and stop in their tracks, drawing all eyes to it as if it did not want to lose the attention it was receiving from these onlookers. Anna stared at it in confusion and apprehension, her ears filling with the loud noises the object emanated. However, this time the object did not emit a hum that rose and then fell in pitch, but quickly followed it up with a loud charging sound that gradually began to get louder and louder. The noise was deafening, making it sound like she was right next to an airplane that was taxing and about to take off. She wanted to run but her feet just remained locked in place as if refusing to let her go, as if wanting her to see this through.

Within the bus, the others watched on with growing terror. They did not know what it was or what it was doing here or who owned it. But one thing was certain; they had to go! _Now!_

Then, as if by discovering some lost strength within her, Rapunzel forced Aurora off her, causing her to yell out in surprise and be thrown onto a seat, and legged it towards the bus entrance, pushing past Philip and Eugene. She did not care what happened to her, all she wanted to do was grab Anna and then have them all go before this thing did … something that might put them all in danger. She reached the ground! Yes! Now just a quick run across the clearing to Anna, grab her and run back to the bus!

But the outside of the bus was as far as she got.

As if it sensed what was about to happen, the object suddenly intensified its crimson light on the side that was facing Anna, blinding them all for a moment. Anna raised an arm over her eyes to protect them and took another step back, ready to run for the bus. Rapunzel, looking under her raised arm also, caught sight of Anna and prepared to run when …

_**VRROOOOMM! KKKKZZZZKKKKK!**_

A crackle of electricity rang out like a gunshot, lasting not even a second before it and the light faded away into the darkness. For a moment, no one moved, trying to process what had just happened as they looked upon the object once again. What did it do? What was the purpose of that noise? Was it trying to make contact with them? Was it trying to scare them off or something? What was it trying to do?

Then, through the darkness, Rapunzel looked and saw something that made her the others' hearts stop dead.

There, lying on the ground on her back and her head cocked to one side, just a foot or two from where she had been standing milliseconds earlier, was Anna. No movement and no words meant no sign of life.


End file.
